My family is planning a trip to WDW and after a lot of research I think the best choice for us is POR. I am concerned about the bus service to the parks. It seems like this is the biggest negative I can find about this resort. SO -- How bad is it really? We are planning on going in Jan 2007 -- anyone stayed at POR this Jan or Feb can tell me how long of waits for the bus to and from the parks. Thanks
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Port Orleans Riverside Bus Service
- Thread starter symon
- Start date
RonAnnArbor
Well-Known Member
You will have no problem at that time - that is off peak. The busses start at the registration building first, then proceed around the loop to the Bayou first and then the mansions. THey then proceed to the park. Sometimes you will have your own bus, and sometimes both French Quarter and Riverside will share the same busses. WHen that occurs they go to French Quarter first, and then to Riverside. THe busses run about every 20 minutes. THey are radio controlled, so depending on what the crowds are like, Disney can use more busses or fewer busses as they see fit. The only time the busses become a problem at Riverside are at peak occupancy park times, but at those times EVERYTHING at the parks requires additional patience and waiting time. Upon your return from one of the parks to home, they will share busses during the day, but during the evening and closing times, Riverside and French Quarter will usually have their own busses back to the resorts. I stay at Frech Quarter rather than Riverside for personal preference, but do NOT let the bus service scare you away from Riverside. It is a wonderful resort and Disney has the busses down to an art. One note: the bus service has never resumed to quantity and speed that they had before 9/11...even though the resorts have resumed full capacity on many occasions again. WDW found a way to reduce some of their cost by reducing the frequency of the busses. For most people, they don't notice any difference. For people who have not been to the park post 9/11 they notice and complain that the "bus service isn't what it used to be" -- that is absolutely true - it is probably half of what it was pre 9/11 across the board at all resorts...but I have never had a wait of longer than 20 minutes at either of the Port Orleans resorts.
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GarryandLindy
Member
symon said:
I stayed in the French Quarter New Years Weekend 2004. I can honestly say that buses for all parks including Pleasure Island came every 15 minutes or sooner. If I remember correctly and someone can correct me but because of the proximity of POR to all the parks, the bus ride was quick.
Garry
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CaptainMichael
Well-Known Member
Bus service is better at French Quarter because it serviced first. When we stayed there, the bus was often full before we got to Riverside.
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Dj Corona
Active Member
We stay at Riverside a lot, and honestly it can be a mixed bag, mainly the biggest thing we noticed is during the day the buses hit Riverside and Port Orleans, and sometimes the order of they go in can differ. At nights when the parks let out, there will be specific buses for PO and Riverside. Also the Downtown Disney/ Typhoon Lagoon route order changed, depending on the driver as well. All in all, the buses are fairly on schedule. Out of all the times we've ever been the worst wait was the day after the hurricane in October, and the parks all opened at I think 1, and the main terminal was PACKED!! One of the worst things I think I ever saw. People just freaking out on each other.
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cyclonerod
New Member
Corondo springs is the best resorts. Very quite because it is a convention resort. Bus service is the lousy everywhere.
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Just going to add one thing...The bus from PO to DTD can be really bad. The last time I used it it was about 8:30 PM and it took nearly 30 minuets for the bus to arrive and it circled the resort twice. By the time it was all over it took over an hour to get there. However there is transportation from PO to DTD via boat that runs until 11:30 PM.(boat will drop you off next to Rainforest and Captain Jacks) If you are going to PI or DTD I would highly recommend taking the boat over the bus.
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AndreainNY
New Member
We have stayed at POFQ and just this past October, we stayed at POR. I was concerned about bus wait times also since when we were at POFQ, many times the bus was too full to go over to POR. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bus wait times were fine! I honestly didn't notice a difference in the times we saw at FQ to what we had at POR. In fact, only once did one of the buses come over from FQ - all the rest of the times it was only from POR - so the buses were nearly empty or completely empty when we got on (we were in Alligator Bayou #27). The buses at Pop Century were a million times worse - we waited up to 45 minutes for a bus last when we were there last April (in the sun no less, the bus queues are not covered) and we waited more than an hour when leaving the parks - we just were not impressed with Pop at all. We are probably staying at POR this Oct/Nov, the only reason we are not looking at POFQ is because there are 5 of us and we don't want to have to get 2 rooms, we won't have to do that at POR.
I think you will like POR a lot!!!
I think you will like POR a lot!!!
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CAPTAIN HOOK
Well-Known Member
A much more pleasant journey by boat although it can be quite cool on the water in the eveningsMaster Yoda said:
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Thank you all for your information, you have helped make me feel better about my choice of POR. I don't mind waiting for the bus I just don't want a nightmare! Thanks for the suggestion about the boat to Downtown Disney, I am excited about this, in fact it is one of the reasons I chose POR, I think my boys will love the boat and since we can't afford a deluxe resort, this seems like a good option.
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WDWRLD
Active Member
The rooms at PORFQ dont have the trundle as in POR at the Bayou so their rooms only sleep 4.
The boat from DTD to POR takes about 30 min travel time. This does not account for how long you will have to wait for the boat which. But this is deffinately something to do and not to be missed as it is so relaxing. Also the last departing boat is either 11 or 12 at night exactly not a minute after. After that you will need to catch the bus. The busses are much faster.
You also get to see history from the boat to DTD. You go right past the Tree House Villas which once were a very popular accomidation in its own right years ago. They now set idle with the exception of hurricaine repairs due to land restrictions.
The boat from DTD to POR takes about 30 min travel time. This does not account for how long you will have to wait for the boat which. But this is deffinately something to do and not to be missed as it is so relaxing. Also the last departing boat is either 11 or 12 at night exactly not a minute after. After that you will need to catch the bus. The busses are much faster.
You also get to see history from the boat to DTD. You go right past the Tree House Villas which once were a very popular accomidation in its own right years ago. They now set idle with the exception of hurricaine repairs due to land restrictions.
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Actually, they were recently repaired and are currently being used as housing for cast members.Brian Skinner said:
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Not to mention I think the female cast members are oblivious to the fact that their are boats traveling by, either that or they like to put on a show.:lookarounBrian Skinner said:
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